Erskine Bowles had the opportunity to tour a variety of businesses and educational institutions across Southeast Asia while working on Tsunami Relief. What he learned as he toured those facilities disturbed him almost as much as the flattened homes, twisted trees and upended boats he’d seen scattered along the coast.
“What I saw in Asia changed the way I think, the way I act, what I think is important, how I will do my job, and what I will focus on,” Bowles explains. “I came back knowing that if we don’t get more of our own people better educated, the jobs of the future are not going to be here, they’re going to be over there. There is an economic shift coming at us like a tsunami.”

When Charlotte’s Beers Construction Company melded with 15-plus entities in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, the result was Skanska USA, a company that enjoys resources and expertise befitting a $4 billion behemoth – part of Skanska AB, a public company traded on the Swedish Stock Exchange that scored $17 billion in sales for 2005.

In recognition of the evolving global economy, Wake Forest University’s Babcock School of Management offers an international study trip for a cultural, economic and socio-political immersion in the global landscape. Dean Ajay Patel recently led such a trek to India, a rising superstar on the world stage.

Homeownership may be the American Dream, but for many people it’s just that – a dream. High prices, credit problems and the lack of a down payment make it nearly impossible to buy a house. Enter Liberty Homes, offering modest homes without having to settle for cookie-cutter models with ho-hum amenities.

The Shelton brothers were not about to retire after selling Shelco, Inc. They were already deeply involved in their next project: creating a state-of-the art winery committed to the production of world-class wines. Today, just seven years later, Shelton Vineyards is the largest estate winery in North Carolina and one of the largest estate wineries on the East Coast.